Tag: shopping

Sorry this post is a bit late, I had a plan in place to wake up early and go over to greenwich for the sun rise but that soon changed as soon as I heard my alarm, my excuse is that because amy works 5 days week if unfair to drag her out of bed at 6:30am on a sunday. I’m not too sure that excuse has worked. but any way we are now up and ready to go only a few hours later the only problem is that I still need to edit and write about my photos from yesterday. its really weird writing the past and the future but I’m going to do my best and make this as simple as possible.

After selling the spare bed yesterday we decided that it was time to grab a chest of drawers to tackle the crazy amount of clothes that are now accumulating in the flat, even though Amy still hasn’t completely moved in yet, it kind of makes sense of her to leave some clothes her. if any one has been shopping for a chest of drawers before you will know how extremely stressful the whole process can be, not only do you have to go round shops but you also have to deal with the over priced wooden boxes which places like Habbit, St Elm, made and loaf seem to charge and non of them really had what we were looking for. then I had the genius idea of looking on Gumtree and boom we were on our way to an antiques store in Crystal Palace and firstly there are hundreds of antique stores in crystal palace and all of them have a amazing stuff. The chest of drawers we had seem on gumtree was really right for what we wanted it for but next door was this 1920’s Oak chest of drawers which was perfect, the guy was selling it for £140 but after some of my negotiation skills kick in we managed to get it for £120, he also chucked in two packets for sour sweets for good measure.

Oh and we also made some home made burgers for dinner yesterday, I tried to make a home made posh fast food, not sure that worked out, maybe ill just leave that to the professionals. We took a normal home made burger and added some of our own stuff to it, like some chillies, onions and garlic, we also used Selma to help hold it all together, the trick is to cool it on a slow heat of long time, so it doesn’t fall apart.

We also cooked some Sweet potato fries as well, and the recipe of that is just below this the burger instructions.

The basic ingredients you’ll need are:

1 small onion peeled and diced

500g good-quality beef mince

1 egg

1 tbsp vegetable oil

4 burger buns

All or any of the following to serve: sliced tomato, beetroot, horseradish sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, handful iceberg lettuce, rocket, watercress

Tip the beef into a bowl with the onion and egg, then mix. (and anything else you want to add to the burgers, trust me add what you want)

Divide the mixture into four. Lightly wet your hands. Carefully roll the mixture into balls, each about the size of a tennis ball.

Set in the palm of your hand and gently squeeze down to flatten into patties about 3cm thick. Make sure all the burgers are the same thickness so that they will cook evenly. Put on a plate, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge to firm up for at least 30 mins.

Heat the barbecue / frying pan to medium hot (there will be white ash over the red hot coals – about 40 mins after lighting). Lightly brush 1 side of each burger with oil.

Place the burgers, oil-side down, on the barbecue. Cook for 5 mins until the meat is lightly charred. Don’t move them around or they may stick. Oil the other side, then turn over using tongs. Don’t press down on the meat, as that will squeeze out the juices.

Cook for 5 mins more for medium. If you like your burgers pink in the middle, cook 1 min less each side. For well done, cook 1 min more.

Sweet potato fries

Ingredients

500grams sweet potatoes (peeled and cut in to long strips)

1tablespoon olive oil

1teaspoon sea salt

1teaspoon smoked paprika

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C. You may need to adjust the temperature slightly dependant on your oven.

In a large bowl add the sweet potato and pour over the olive oil and give them a good coating.

Sprinkle over the salt and paprika and also give them a good coating. Lay evenly over a non-stick baking tray.

Cook in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes until crispy.

Serve on their own as a snack or a side to your favourite meal.

This is a pretty long blog and sorry the photos arent the best, yesterday was just about getting through the day without punching one of those “I love the January sales” people.

Heres my photos, enjoy.

– it was love at first sign –– it was literally what we were looking for, antique shops are the way forward –– my attempt at posh fast food –

Firstly I want to apologise for this post being late, I was trying to put it up earlier but after last night my brain just could focus and the laptop screen was hurting my eyes. I don’t think its got anything todo with the amount of beer I drank or even the because of the time we started drinking, I think its because I was up early and in the shops. Any other time and i would probably had said we started to early but our friends of Switerzland have come over so we had a mini party. so I don’t really remember much of the afternoon or evening. but what I can say is that we are having a proper Sunday evening now and you can read about it tomorrow.

We have a few plans this evening and thankfully none of those involve alcohol which is definitely a positive, im also not scared to brave the weather and travel because Im now in the doc martin boot gang and I cant wait to put them through their paces and see what these babies can do. I love buying products like doc martins because its fun to see what you can actually do with them before they break. I think I’ve got a few years in them yet before I need to replace them.

today might seem likes a bit thin on then writing and but its days like these where posting every day for 365 is hard but I need power through. Ill try and make some cool posts this week, I really want todo more portrait photography so I might try and find a model or someone to practise on and see if I can take a decent photo.

Anyway heres my photos and enjoy your Sunday. Also can people please read my post from yesterday and let me know what you think and if its actually any good? I really want to write more music reviews but not really sure if its helpful.

– Soho on a saturday –– Welcome back to london Pauline and gigi –– the love of my life –

Yesterday I watched an interview with Noel Gallagher, where he talked about streaming music and how now days music is for rental, where as music should be for sale. a Transaction between the artist and fan willing to part with money to buy the music and art that comes on the front cover, its a way of telling the real fans from the one time listeners. and I kind of agree with that, but I do have a Spotify account and I do use it daily, who doesn’t?

With my project I’m currently doing focusing on London’s music scene it would be wrong of me not to explore the world of record shops and the passion that goes into them, in todays market owning a record store is like putting two figures up to the internet and counting on those passionate music fans who will trek out to you store during a cold winters night to buy a record or CD, when they could just as easy stream it on Spotify then go an buy it off the Amazon App and have it at their house the next day.

But once you step into the a record store like the one I went to yesterday you soon realise why people do it, its an experience. your welcomed by thousands of actual objects all of which have a story, most have bumps of signs of wear but that just adds to the fact your standing in a musical archive flicking through all those years and years of history and culture. its this weird thing that makes you feel closer to the artist or band, your now physically scrolling through their work, trying to find that gem that no ones else has found yet, and not only are you not sure if its worth it but you cant listen to it till you get home.

My trip yesterday took me to Music and video exchange in Notting Hill, just by the Russian embassy, I wanted to go to some where out of central London, where the shop has no choice but to let the music do the talking. my first thoughts where to head into Soho or even Brick Lane but they would of been busy with people and most are pretty new shops, where as this one in Notting Hill is like stepping into a time portal and heading back 50 years.

If you have a chance go to your local Record store and just say Hi and listen to some music, I guarantee you’ll enjoy it and might even find something you weren’t expecting. I ended up buying a CD by The Manic Street Preachers and as I write this I’m listening to it, and trust me its a whole different way to experience music, before it was an automatic thing, just stream it on my phone and listen to hours of music going in one ear and out the other. Now its a physical thing and its something that has much more of an impact. Oh and I literally paid £1 for it! you cant even get a bottle of water at the shop next door for that!!!!!!

Heres my photos from inside the store, I hope you like them.

– this is Neil, he works in the store and is the vintage version of Google. he is your answer to any music related question –– trying to find a gem inbetween all of this, its all about investing time to get the result you want –– most people would walk past this store, but make the trip inside –

Im having one of those weeks where I just can be bothered todo anything, i literally have to force myself to get up in the mornings. Im not sure if its because this year has been so busy that now its all coming to an end my body just wants to lay down and sleep or if its because this is just what I enjoy doing? part of the reason for starting this three photos a day thing was because when I have days like this it makes me get up and do something productive, you always feel better after you get productive.

After a really good meeting yesterday where I got some cool stuff done and we spoke about the next six months, where hopefully I get to create some amazing content and then wrap it all up in an exhibition! don’t worry when I know more about this I will let you know, but for now I still don’t know myself.

Anyway after the meeting I came back literally watched two movies and had a nap, but this blog meant I had to get up and go photograph something which lead to me heading down to Bond street and photograph the christmas lights, which in turn lead to me walking all round central London trying to capture “the magic of christmas”. normally this time of year I try and avoid bond street / oxford circus as its just pure mayhem, but this year I headed there after rush hour when its a bit more chilled out and too be honest Im kind of happy I did. the lights seemed to be way better than in pervious years and its really got me into the christmas sprite, its almost as the different streets are competing for the best christmas lights, oxford and bond street definitely have the wow factor, but my favourite has to be Carnaby street, they just have a bit more originality.

Maybe what ill do on the blog is a top three christmas light post from all the different lights around London. its not like I don’t have the time now.

Here are my photos from yesterday.

– these two were well into the christmas sprite –– this guy had the perfect spot to take a photo, so I just took a photo of his photo –– Selfridges going all out –

Some days you walk around for ages and dont see a single thing to take a photo of, yesterday was not one of those days. shoreditch had quite a few great moments and all I was doing was walking to and from a sport massage. I wasnt even out with the intention of taking photos, I just had my camera with me. But after I saw the bull dog lay down and refuse to my while his owner was clothes shopping, I knew saturday was going to be a good day. after that I was walking down the road and noticed a pin up girl standing at a window and BOOOM. But the photo that takes the win for today was when some one parked a car on a yellow line on Bethnal Green Road and spray painted the words “cheater” on the side. Someone had a very very bad day.

check out these snaps.

– someones having a bad day –– girl got style –– I know how this dog feels –

theres no better wake up call and to be reminded that your back in london than english rain, its the “I dont need a jacket today” attitude that catches you out the most and the sudden down pour that seems to last a few hours but long enough for you to be sat at your desk with wet jeans for the whole day! but I suppose I cant complain because I saw a guy standing in the que for the sainsburys check out with a metro news paper still balanced on his head to protect him for the sudden down pours that happen inside Sainsburys every now and again, it doesnt sound that funny as I write this, but if you were there…

Any way heres my snaps from today. I’m trying a few new things out, to see what works, what does work, changing the format, adding a watermark trying to work on finding a nice typography that I can use consistently and mainly the style of my photos, what I focus on when i’m in London and what I focus on when Im in new countries. so please let me know what you like and what you think is absolutely crap.

– this is kind of a smart / cheap way of advertising – – its like the old people are walking towards the light – – I found palm trees in tower hamlets, its almost like being on holiday –

Yesterday I was running around all over london and forgot my camera, so it got to like 8ish, I was standing outside tesco thinking what can I take a picture of. So I ended up buying a bunch of fruit and see what they looked like inside.